Perry Visits China Seeking Better U.s. Ties To Military

October 17, 1994|By New York Times News Service.

BEIJING — The Clinton administration began a new effort on Sunday to rebuild ties with China's armed forces as William Perry became the first American secretary of defense to visit since the military's crackdown on democracy supporters at Tiananmen Square in 1989.

The high-level visit, a matter of contention in Washington, is taking place against the backdrop of expanding economic relations between the United States and China as well as differences over Chinese weapons sales, nuclear testing and human rights abuses.

Perry said he will focus on trying to dissuade Beijing from selling missiles but won't discuss the sale of American weapons or military technology.

Explaining this upgrading of ties between the American and Chinese militaries, a senior Pentagon official said: "The United States government made a decision that in order to address these problems, we've really got to talk to the People's Liberation Army, which has a significant voice in how these Chinese policies are being formulated."

In this effort, Perry is being accompanied by senior officials from the Departments of Defense, State and Commerce, as well as from the National Security Council. Over the next three days, Perry is to meet with senior Chinese leaders, give a speech at the National Defense University and inaugurate an American-Chinese commission set up to help China convert from military to civilian industries.

The Pentagon mission has drawn fire from critics who accuse Washington of subordinating human rights and national security concerns to economics. They say the Chinese military's real agenda is to lay the groundwork to acquire American military technology and note that it was Chinese troops that quashed the pro-democracy movement.

William Triplett, a former Republican counsel on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has urged Congress to "squash any coordination between the Pentagon and the unrepentant, anti-democratic Chinese military."

Perry's involvement with the Chinese dates back to the Carter administration when, as a Pentagon official, he visited to help sell American technology and contain Soviet military power.

During his years out of government, Perry nurtured ties with Chinese military officials, including Gen. Liu Huaqing, a senior military leader, and Gen. Ding Henggao, minister of the State Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.